BEAUMONT, Texas—Recovering from a doubles point loss that led to a 3-1 deficit, the third-seeded Northwestern State swept the final three singles matches and eliminated sixth seed Abilene Christian 4-3 in a thrilling Southland Conference Women's Tennis Tournament quarterfinal match Friday.

Second-team All-Southland No. 5 singles standout Judit Castillo provided the decisive point, rallying for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph. It was the ninth time an NSU match has been settled by a 4-3 score, and the third in a row, with the Lady Demons snagging a 5-4 edge this spring in the nailbiters.

The outcome advanced NSU to Saturday's 2 p.m. semifinal round against second seed and regular season co-champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center. The teams will meet for the second time in a week. In Natchitoches last Saturday, the Islanders triumphed 4-3 with the outcome determined in the final two games of a third set battle in the No. 3 position.

In the past decade, NSU has met Corpus Christi four times in the conference tournament. Two of those meetings have been in the finals with each opponent claiming a championship title (NSU in 2013, AMCC in 2016).

Friday, NSU (15-8) prevailed when Castillo, a sophomore with a 14-4 singles record, changed course effectively after ACU's Autumn Crossnoe dominated the first set in their pivotal contest.

"Judit played very smart and mixed things up well to get back in the match after her first set loss," head coach Patric DuBois said. "She stayed with it throughout the match and executed well under pressure to clinch the victory in the last match."

The comeback began when sophomore Ela Iwaniuk started the Lady Demon singles snowball effect, drawing NSU within 3-2 with a straight-set domination (6-3, 6-1) at No. 3 over Nini Memishishi, an All-Southland second-team choice.

Knotting the match at 3-all, sophomore Kateryna Avram garnered a 6-3, 6-3 triumph against Ileana Mocciola.

"All matches in each position were played at a high level today," DuBois added. "Ela, Kate and Judit played well under pressure knowing that one more loss would have ended the match. The girls were committed to staying out there as long as needed to find a way to a team victory today."

Friday's tournament meeting with the Wildcats (13-9) was an ironic opposite of the regular season contest March 30 in Abilene, when ACU overcame the Lady Demons 4-3 after falling short in doubles and prevailing in singles.

"Today was a great fight by both teams," DuBois said. "ACU started off quickly playing great in doubles. I was proud of our girls as they stayed calm and cool going into singles. Although we lost 4 of 6 singles in the regular season match, we knew we were capable of winning in each position if we played well."

NSU's No. 1 tandem Polina Mutel and Polina Ivanova started doubles play with a 7-5 victory, but the Wildcats captured the doubles point on the second and third courts.

Posting the first singles point, Ivanova evened the score 1-all with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph against Whitney Williams in the second position.

Her victory also bumped her to eighth in all-time Lady Demon career singles wins (55-26 career singles record). The team's lone senior has the chance to increase another step in the rankings in Saturday's contest.

The Wildcats surged closer to posting their first Southland Tournament win in program history after Lucile Pothier at No. 1 (6-1, 6-2) and Sarah Adams at No. 3 (6-3, 6-0) recorded back-to-back singles victories for an overall 3-1 advantage.

Then, the lower half of the Lady Demon lineup came through in the clutch.

Tournament contests discontinue after the clinching fourth point to preserve player health and rest time, but the Lady Demons forced a three-hour match to earn the win.

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Northwestern State 4, Abilene Christian 3

Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center

Beaumont, Texas

Singles competition

1. Lucile Pothier (ACU) def. Polina Mutel 6-1, 6-2

2. Polina Ivanova (NSU) def. Whitney Williams 6-3, 6-3

3. Sarah Adams (ACU) def. Emilija Dancetovic 6-3, 6-0

4. Ela Iwaniuk (NSU) def. Nini Memishishi 6-3, 6-1

5. Judit Castillo (NSU) def. Autumn Crossnoe 1-6, 6-3, 6-4

6. Kateryna Avram (NSU) def. Ileana Mocciola 6-3, 6-3

Doubles competition

1. Polina Ivanova/Polina Mutel (NSU) def. Whitney Williams/Sarah Adams 7-5

2. Lucile Pothier/Nini Memishishi (ACU) def. Kateryna Avram/Judit Castillo 6-3

3. Ileana Mocciola/Autumn Crossnoe (ACU) def. Emilija Dancetovic/Ela Iwaniuk 6-4

Match Notes:

Abilene Christian 13-9

Northwestern State 15-8

Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (2,3,1,4,6,5)

T-2:53